Can You Pay Me Now?

In 2015, James Leslie Kelly went to a Verizon Wireless store and walked out with $300 worth of products and services. No problem, except that he was using an identity that belonged to a different James Kelly at the time. He was convicted last October and perhaps because this was far from his first brush with John Law, he’s currently serving a 10 year prison stretch.

On that date, Kelly, 52, went to a Highlands County Verizon store and used his ID to steal from an existing customer with the same first and last name, but different middle name, he claims in a federal lawsuit.
The suit, filed last week, claims the Verizon employee spent an hour and a half with him and should have realized that the ID and information from the existing customer account did not match.

Kelly claims Verizon’s “negligence” caused a “loss of civil liberties and freedoms,” because he was convicted and sentenced to prison in connection with the case.
He is seeking $72 million in damages.